This Week in Germany

The week flew by. To prepare you for the startup chitchat you could be facing at a party this weekend, read this week’s summary and be on top of what happened in the German startup scene.

Whanda acquires Treatwell for €34 million

Treatwell, a wellness booking platform available in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, got acquired by its London-based competitor Wahanda. or $38 million (€34 million). Prior to this deal, Whanda already acquired Germany-based Salonmeister, lithuanian Lemon Labs and Beautycheck from Austria. “We are delighted to be joining forces with Treatwell,” stated Lopo Champalimaud, Wahanda’s CEO and founder. “Treatwell’s team includes a co-founder of Just-Eat Benelux, an ex-CFO of Booking.com and a former senior executive at Procter & Gamble, who between them have helped build Treatwell into one of the fastest growing online marketplaces of its kind in Continental Europe.”
[TechCrunch]

Portugal Ventures opens office in Berlin

After opening an office in San Francisco, Boston and Austin, Portugal Ventures now announces to also touch ground in Berlin’s co working space betahaus. “In opening an office in Berlin, we hope to see a deeper relationship and better engagement between our portfolio companies, and the Portuguese ecosystem in general, with the German community – including investors, non-executive directors, advisory board members, corporations, and so on,” stated José Franca, Portugal Ventures CEO & Chairman. The specific opening date will be announced later in June.

Zalando replaces Bertrandt in German MDAX index

Europe’s largest online fashion retailer Zalando will be added to Germany’s mid-cap index MDAX. The Berlin-based startup’s shares will replace those of automotive supplier Bertrandt, which will move to the small-cap index (SDAX).
[Reuters]

Car2Go and Flinkster join forces

Carsharing companies Car2Go (Daimler) and Flinkster (Deutsche Bahn) will from now on offer both companies’ offers. This deal gives customers access to 7,000 cars. A new registration is not required.
[Gründerszene] (German)

Point Nine Capital raises $60 million fund

Berlin-based early stage VC Point Nine Capital closed its third fund. Up to $1 million will be invested in around 40 startups across Europe and North America. Point Nine Capital already has 49 companies in its portfolio, including Delivery Hero (which is the most valuable) and e.g. Zendesk.
The VCs total capital under management is $110 million.
[TechCrunch]

Lesara expands to the Netherlands and Italy

The Berlin-based online discount shop Lesara announced expanding to the Netherlands and Italy today. The online shop, which focusses on fashion and lifestyle products, launched 18 month ago is already available in six countries. According to the startup the new markets offer over 76 million potential customer.

B2B Expert platform Atheneum Partners raises €10 million

Atheneum Partners is a Berlin-based startup that launched five years and connects industry experts. Now, it announces a €10 million investment round. The fresh cash comes from existing investor Vogel Business Media, who invested about €6.5 million and now holds about 30 percent of the company. New investor is Jens Odewald who bought FPW Capital’s shares (about 2%).
[Gründerszene] (German)

Orderbird acquires pepperbill

Back in 2014 the Berlin-based startup orderbird that offers iPad POS system for catering raised €10 million. Today, it announced that some of that was spent on acquiring its competitor pepperbill to expands its market leadership.

Spacebase secures six-digit seed funding

Berlin-based Spacebase lets customers find unusual event spaces – until now 1,000 locations in 15 cities. The company’s co- founder Stephan Ekbergh will now also operate as its investor: Ekbergh supports the startup with a high six-figure seed investment to expand the service.

shopwings exands to three more cities

Shopwings, Rocket Internet’s grocery delivery service, started in Munich and later launched in Berlin. Today it announced three more cities to operate in: Hamburg, Frankfurt and Cologne.

Home24 raises €120 million

According to rumors, Berlin-based furniture startup Home24 is working on an IPO. Now, the Rocket-backed startup announces a fresh €120 million investment from both, existing and new investors. 10 percent of its shares were sold to the Scottish investment firm Baillie Gifford, which invested €90 million. The other €30 million came from Rocket Internet. Through this investment, the company’s evaluation rose to €942 million.
[Gründerszene] (German)

Rocket’s mid-term rental platform nestpick launches in Australia

Shortly after celebrating its first birthday, Berlin-based Nestpick launches in Australia, starting in Sydney and Melbourne. The Rocket Internet competitor of Berlin-basedwunderflat offers mid-term furnished apartments (at least three month of rental) for e.g. exchange students, expats or professionals.
[nestpick]